Older disabled workers’ perceptions of volunteering

Abstract

The activity of volunteering is readily available to, and undertaken by, able‐bodied people in Australia and is recognized as a valuable social pursuit, particularly among citizens of retirement age. Despite the known benefits of volunteering, however, there are few reports of disabled people participating as volunteers and little is understood of their experiences or perceptions of volunteering. The aim of this study was to explore how older workers within supported employment settings perceived the opportunities for and barriers to volunteering. Fourteen people with long‐standing impairments participated in this small qualitative study. Overall the participants were positive about volunteering, but noted they might require support to volunteer successfully. Drawing upon the participants’ views, recommendations are made for developing training. Disabled workers facing retirement need to be supported to have opportunities for active participation in the community as volunteers if so desired.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the 14 disabled workers who participated in this study. They were generous with their time and open in their responses. We would also like to thank the Australian Foundation for Disability (AFFORD), the service that assisted us in this project by providing access to their supported employment and accommodation services and facilitating recruitment and interviews.

Notes

1. Supported Employment services employ and support people with disabilities, often in specialist working environments. This type of service approach is aimed at people with disabilities who want to work but choose to do so in a supported employment environment or who, because they have higher support needs, normally find it hard to find and keep a job (Australian Government Centrelink, 2005).